Synopses & Reviews
"This book is the story of intertwined journeys--how one woman observed and experienced the shifts and struggles of mainline religion as she lived her own journey in eight Episcopal congregations over two decades. And it is the story of each congregation at a particular moment in its history. Each experienced some degree of ferment about its identity, about the denomination, about its vocation and mission in the world, and about the nature of faith community. Those conflicts have changed me, have changed the congregations, and, I believe, are changing the nature of mainline churchgoing."
— from the Introduction
"Embroidering her commentary with the intricate knots and binding strands of the Church's history among us, Bass renders for us a new fabric of many colors and invites us to shelter ourselves within its triumphant folds. She also, as I have said from the very beginning, thereby creates something of a post-modern amazement."
— From the Foreword by Phyllis Tickle
"Diana Butler Bass has written a rare kind of book. Part religious travelogue, part contemporary tracing of one pilgrim's progress, part spiritual autobiography, Strength for the Journey gives us a very personal and a very acute view of what life is like for a committed Christian today."
— James P. Wind, president, The Alban Institute
"A compelling intertwining of a personal spiritual journey and the recent history of Protestantism. Diana Butler Bass makes the case that baby boom seekers are drawing the Church into a new, more authentic Christianity."
— Nora Gallagher, author, Things Seen and Unseen: A Year Lived in Faith
"With the insights of a mystic, Diana Butler Bass recounts her spiritual pilgrimage from Methodism to evangelicalism to the benumbing diversity of the Episcopal Church, where she found a spiritual home. Along the way, she offers a guided tour of the crises and the controversies afflicting mainline Protestantism over the past several decades. For anyone looking for evidence that the glass of manline Protestantism is half full rather than half empty Strength for the Journey offers a persuasive case."
— Randall Balmer, author, Growing Pains: Learning to Love My Father's Faith
Review
New York Times syndicated religion columnist Bass delivers the ostensible goods-an account of her life in eight different Episcopal churches-and even if the book stopped there, it would be magnificent. Her parish stories unfold in that riveting, better-than-fiction way that the best sociological case studies always do. Each chapter is more intriguing than the last, and it is a pleasure to see how their titles, such as "Competing Authorities" and "Interim," perfectly label the personal and congregational stories therein. But what strikes the heart is Bass's own journey from conservative evangelicalism to mainline liberalism. A precocious undergraduate who was reading the likes of Luther, Bultmann and Julian of Norwich in her free time, Bass went on to get a seminary degree and a Ph.D. in church history. She joined the Episcopal Church in her early 2Os because of her passion for liturgy and the Eucharist, and she initially hoped to "renew" the church, a euphemism for making it more evangelical. Instead, becoming a member made her less evangelical. Each parish story is also the story of her baby steps away from evangelical belief until, finally, the floodgates broke loose and she chose to leave all vestiges of her conservative Christian life behind, including her job and her marriage. This book is more than the chronicle of a baby boomer who stayed in a mainline denomination while most of her peers fled; it records a soul's search for God and communion with God's people. (Feb.) (
Publishers Weekly, January 14, 2002)
"...if you want to protect your rock-solid opinions, you should not read this book. If you think the mainstream churches are apostate, you should not read this book. But, if you want to share one woman's multifaceted experience with God in a mainstream church, you will find this book both facinating and challenging." (CrossPoint, Winter 2003)
Review
"The book you are holding in your hands is as much an amazement as a book. Though it may be--and is--gentle and unassuming, the tale told on these pages spreads in one's soul over time like a powerful music heard or a rich brandy well savored.... Strength for the Journey is a sui generis, a thing unto itself, a one-of-a-kind book." (From the foreword by Phyllis Tickle, author of The Divine Hours and The Shaping of a Life)
"Diana Bass is an astute, acute, and articulate commentator on the religious scene, with a knack for detecting the resonances between her own story and the larger story of religion and culture. A clear and witty voice, laced with humor." (Patrick Henry, executive director Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research)
"With the insights of a mystic, Diana Butler Bass recounts her spiritual pilgrimage from Methodism to evangelicalism to the benumbing diversity of the Episcopal Church, where she found a spiritual home. Along the way, she offers a guided tour of the crises and the controversies afflicting mainline Protestantism over the past several decades. For anyone looking for evidence that the glass of mainline Protestantism is half full rather than half empty, Strength for the Journey offers a persuasive case." (Randall BalmerAuthor of Growing Pains: Learning to Love My Father's Faith)
"A compelling intertwining of a personal spiritual journey and the recent history of Protestantism. Diana Butler-Bass makes the case that Baby Boom seekers are drawing the Church into a new, more authentic Christianity." (Nora GallagherAuthor of Things Seen and Unseen: A Year Lived in Faith)
Synopsis
In Strength for the Journey, Diana Butler Bass illustrates the dynamic strength and persistence of mainline Protestantism. While many baby boomers left the church, only to come back later in life, Bass was a "stayer" who witnessed the struggles and changes and found much there that was meaningful. Offering thought-provoking portraits of eight parishes she attended over two decades, she explores the major issues that have confronted mainline denominations, congregations, and parishioners during those years-- from debates over women clergy to conflicts about diversity and community to scrimmages between tradition and innovation.
Synopsis
"The church cannot depend on the past for its future." — Diana Butler Bass
At a time when many mainline churches were losing members, Diana Butler Bass chose to stay and discover the vibrancy at the very heart of her faith. She was not alone. There has been a quiet resurrection in the mainline tradition, energized by a new generation of churchgoers and a host of new members. The reemerging Protestant mainline possesses an unexpected and underestimated vitality. And in recent decades, mainline churchgoing has been anything but dull, as congregations have struggled to understand their identity and vocation in a changed world.
In Strength for the Journey, Diana Butler Bass illustrates the dynamic strength and persistence of mainline Protestantism. While many baby boomers left the church, only to come back later in life, Bass was a "stayer" who witnessed the struggles and changes and found much there that was meaningful. Offering thought-provoking portraits of eight parishes she attended over two decades, she explores the major issues that have confronted mainline denominations, congregations, and parishioners during those years— from debates over women clergy to conflicts about diversity and community to scrimmages between tradition and innovation.
Diana Butler Bass's story reveals the church's history among us. She uses her life as the focal point to tell the larger story of contemporary mainline church life, with all of its ups and downs. During the last two decades, she says, "the church was being quietly transformed by the experiences of stayers like myself who demanded different visions and practices of churchgoing than the institution had traditionally offered." And out of the turbulence, a new kind of mainline congregation has been emerging, and a new period of American Protestantism is being born.
About the Author
Diana Butler Bass writes a weekly newspaper column on contemporary religion as New York Times syndicate columnist. In addition to being a popular speaker, retreat leader, and seminary professor, this scholar of American religion serves as director of faith formation at Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia.
Table of Contents
Foreword by: Phyllis Tickle.
Acknowledgments.
Introduction.
Resurrection: All Saints Church, Pasadena, California, 1996.
Chapter One. Coming Home: All Saints-by-the-Sea, Santa Barbara, California, 1980?1981.
Chapter Two. Competing Authorities: Christ Church, South Hamilton, Massachusetts, 1982?1987.
Chapter Three. The Establishment: St. Stephen?s Episcopal Church, Durham, North Carolina, 1987?1989.
Chapter Four.Practicing Faith: Church of the Holy Family,Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1989?1991.
Chapter Five. Interim: Santa Barbara, California, 1991?1994.
Chapter Six. The Open Door: Trinity Church, Santa Barbara, California, 1995?1997.
Chapter Seven. The Household of God: Grace?St. Luke?s Episcopal Church, Memphis, Tennessee, 1997?2000.
Conclusion. Pentecost: Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia, 2001.
Bibliography.
The Author.